A few days in and we’ve definitely got a feel for the new flavor of WoW. Yesterday I talked about the many immediate changes that bombarded us in the first minutes we logged in, but now the details can be absorbed a bit better.

Class changes are interesting. The only thing I had to do on Saintvache was choose two new talents. His action bars went nearly untouched. I could not say the same for Tumunzahar, Siori, and Liouxpold. Perhaps it’s an Alliance thing. Speaking of classes, many people found Burnt Glyphs in their possession now. Rest assured that’s just for Glyphs that are no longer in the game.

I completed the Iron Horde invasion on the Horde side, and while I don’t know the details of what is to follow, I really hope it isn’t done now. I came out of it with a title and a new pet, but incredibly underwhelmed. That and agitated because Thrally-Sue (which I think I’ll call him far more often now) had to be the one running around on the front line. Really? There couldn’t be anyone else? The guy had a whole expansion dedicated to him (Deathwing was merely supporting cast) and still we get him shoved down our throat. Not to rant too much, because up until the later parts of Cataclysm I actually liked Thrall. It’s just that Blizzard has overplayed him. Getting back to the Iron Horde, it seemed pretty linear and to the point. I’ll have to flip over and give the Alliance side a try before I really assess it but I can’t imagine it is all that different.

One no longer has to spend so much time in Pandaria. I logged into a toon and found it sitting at 100% XP, but hadn’t dinged yet. There’s no way in Dire Maul I would ever let that happen. The OCD in me would have to ding before I logged. Particularly because that’s less than exploratory XP. That’s more along the lines of “you dinged because the wind changed direction.” Now, to confirm this is the case, I played for a little while and had six bubbles in half an hour. At 88. Hrm, this place really might not be that bad anymore.

The final nugget of “huzzah” is stacking. Imagine my surprise when I had the bank open and decided to top up my stack of Dreamfoil and sell the rest. Suddenly I had a stack of 28! I began playing around with this immediately, finding eventually that stacks cap at 200 now. Between that and the Toy Box my bags are bordering on empty (and the bag sort feature is fantastic). But what it really excites me for is my guild banks. For Claws, it just means having a cleaner bank. For the auctioneer in me, it means more room to store goodies. I mean, just look at the difference in one tab.

It wasn’t 100% good news, though. On top of shelling out gold for some face lifts (I think I spent about 200g or so in total. Obviously someone with more 90’s than I spent even more), I found that some gear held onto its transmogrification, while others reset. Needless to say, many of my toons look incredibly goofy so I will have to correct that when given the chance to.

I’m sure many people knew about these changes already, from playing the PTR or reading about it. For me, I have been incredibly removed from these details of the game as I’ve been merely puttering in it for the past few months. I vaguely kept tabs on what’s going on and really didn’t read the changes ahead of time (of course I knew about character models). Thus, it’s all a surprise. It feels like a good surprise, and I have a feeling I’m not the only returning player to think so.

Patch 6.0 is now live and with it came many changes, but none more than the vast amount of visual ones. Almost everyone I spoke to yesterday was headed straight for the Barber Shop to see what they had to work with. Many weren’t keen on what they saw when they logged in, while others didn’t mind the initial look when things went live around 1:30 EST. Personally, Tum was far more angry than I wanted. To be honest, almost all of the dwarves are surly/angry looking. Not that it doesn’t fit the race, because it most certainly does. It’s just that it wouldn’t hurt to have one lighthearted option. As you can see by this image, I did the best I could with what I had.

Initial one on the left, new on the right.

I had to change Saintvache as well, as logging on to him I was blinded by an albino. I just wish we had more hair options for the Tauren. As for the rest of the team, I’ll check them in due time.

It wasn’t just character models that changed. From what I saw last night and this morning, nothing sparkles anymore. No quest items, no nodes. Nothing! Instead, you’ll get a faint outline that gets stronger once you mouse over it. Even characters gain an outline now (green for friendly, red for not) when targeted, though I’m sure there’s an option to turn it off. Still, at a glance it took me a second to complete a couple of quests because I was looking for the shiny.

Action bars have obviously changed, with some spells removed and others simply changed. But speaking of spells, they even look better visually. The animations are fantastic, though I’ve only seen Paladin, Mage, and Warlock. Once again, I’ll get to them in due time…or simply see them amidst my travels.

This isn’t even documenting some of the bigger changes that came with the patch either. Things like the new level UBRS, the Iron Horde invasion (which I’ve started Horde side…so far so good), Garrisons, Premade Groups in the Dungeon Finder, all the class changes, etc.

With the game seeing an increase of over half a million players, this patch is well timed. Many of the changes brought the game up to relatively modern standards and introduced a lot of things the players have been yearning for, for quite some time. Will it translate to more than 7.4 million players and sustain them for a while this time? Hard to say, but you can’t say the new expansion isn’t setting up to take a big swing at it.

I’m going to give two answers once again today as I’m not 100% certain what defines “official.” If we’re talking about cinematic trailers, then there is excited like I was for Wrath of the Lich King. But then there’s “oh #*$&” like I was when we got the Cataclysm trailer.

I was pretty well excited with terror when I saw that for the first time. Even when the expansion was announced and we got “there can be no peace. Deathwing…has returned.” He’s just a monolith of evil. Now, we’ll ignore how the whole expansion played out in terms of living up to that excitement. But it was still a pretty sound trailer for Neltharion coming back to the surface of Azeroth.

If we’re going to include the Patch trailers, then it’s a completely different story. The trailer for 3.1 (Ulduar) that I posted earlier this week is a great one. But, when it comes to the preview videos for all the patches of WoW, there isn’t one that captures the content or delivers as well as 2.3 did.

I knew nothing about Zul’jin when I came into the game, pretty much right after this patch went live. But man, this trailer made me want to. Whoever wrote the dialogue just captured everything so well, and the voice work was phenomenal for it. Yes, Ulduar is a close second, but I don’t think another patch trailer comes even close.

If each of those bubbles was a thought, there probably still wouldn’t be nearly enough in the picture. People ask me where I’ve been as of late, and I can’t say it didn’t come without fair warning that I’d grow quiet. Some suspected I had sent my laptop off for repairs, but that’s not the case. It remains wired to a television upstairs, which actually works alright. It’s just near impossible some days to read the chat window.

I’ve been asked a little bit on my thoughts about 5.2 and I’ll try to articulate a post when I actually care. That harshness isn’t directed at Blizzard or the content or anything like that…I just…well my interest in a lot of things lately (including WoW) is there one moment and gone for many more a heartbeat later. So when WoW’s not of interest, it can be hard to want to even write about it. So aside from the Transmog Contest, I really haven’t had much to say for some time now.

It’s weird. One moment I want to race change my Worgen Warrior to a Pandaren, and the next I’m ready to cancel my subscription. I haven’t, and in the near future I won’t. There are times when I very much want to hop into Azeroth, and so I’m not turning my back on it. I’m sure a few of you have seen me pop on here and there for moments at a time…and yet I never logged in for the Darkmoon Faire last week and aside from the first two days, completely skipped the Lunar Festival.

That brings me to Laid Back Raids. With everything going on (and yes, I know exactly why the things I’ve talked about are the way they are), by the time an LBR comes around, I can be completely exhausted. I’ve pushed through it most nights, but it takes more effort not to (unfairly) snap on people over trivial comments or matters that come with booting through a raid. Trust me, for those wondering, you never genuinely bother me in the slightest. As the ex always tells us, “it’s not you, it’s me.” That’s the case.

But, LBR is important. It’s a tonne of fun and there are always people up for it on some level. As such, I’m continuing to schedule them and will even show up I’m sure. My appearances are just going to be sporadic for a little while (much like my WoWing in general). With that in mind, I asked both Healblade and Repgrind if they would be contacts and both graciously accepted. Their contact information is on the LBR page, and I can’t thank the two of them enough for looking after things in my absence, especially when the two of them can almost always be counted on to be in attendance and bring both wisdom and laughs. Kinda suits the LBR model (not that I ever bestowed much wisdom).

I’m trying to work on more chapters of Posthumous. Yesterday’s was honestly written ages ago, but I kept forgetting to pull the image from my computer. Yes, I’m obsessive like that. I couldn’t publish it without that little raptor image. I’ll see what I can do about posting more soon. It’s a matter of getting the writing bug and the time to dedicate to writing it.

Saw an article that Trivial Pursuit is putting out a WoW edition later this year. That’s exciting. Combines two things I happen to enjoy a lot, and Mrs. Amateur is a trivia addict (and an Illidan damn wealth of knowledge to boot). I can see it ending up in our collection in no time…barring an elaborate price tag. Personally, I’d like to see them replace the pie with a generic character that has spots for Legendary weapons instead of pie slices. That would be sweet.

Speaking of Legendaries…I think I got the quest that starts Tarecgosa’s Staff with Tum. I doubt I’ll get past that first part, much like Siori’s daggers. I know folks were willing to help me, but if I’m not on much…let alone when others are, it’s kinda hard to complete. But, I’m ok with that.

Was a bit surprised last night when Blizzard came right out and said Patch 5.1 is being released today. It’s the first major update since Mists launched back in September and it’s bringing a fair bit of goodies with it. Of course, I’m not talking about specific class mechanics because those will no doubt have mixed results. But what items are most exciting?

Battle Stones:The need to track down a Rare version of every pet is no longer necessary. The stones will upgrade the quality of the pet. They come in general and family specific versions. If you use one on a pet higher than level 15 though you do run the risk of losing two levels in the process. Still, this is a welcomed addition. And at last word they’re BoE, so I foresee them impacting the economy for sure.

Raiding Gets Better:Vanilla WoW raids (including Naxxramas) just got more exciting, as their bosses have the chance to drop pets. On top of that, you no longer need to be in a group to enter a raid. This obviously doesn’t apply to Mists raids, but everything else you can now solo without having to group up first.

Brawler’s Guild:In the Stormwind and Orgrimmar underground there are now fighting rings. Hopefully it won’t be limited to level 90’s, but either way it will definitely be a fun little addition. More options for players is always a good thing.

There’s more to the patch, including a plethora of things relating to pet battles that I didn’t mention. As always, be sure to check out the official Patch Notes after things go live today. With a major patch, don’t be all disgruntled if things take a little longer to come back up either.

In the last two days I’ve actually managed to get back into the game a bit. No, not on my main computer. So far Blizzard’s reply to my ticket was to refer me to the 5.0.4. known issues thread and post…which doesn’t mention my problem and I’ve already done all those things. Of course upon telling them that, I’ve not heard back.

From a talent standpoint, things are certainly interesting. I’ve only done some questing at this stage, so I don’t know how the changes would stand up for me in a raid or dungeon setting. I do know this: most of the level 15 talents do nothing for me and don’t feel all that much like a “choice.” It’s like when I ask my son if he wants jam on his peanut butter sandwich or not. In the end, he’s still having peanut butter.

I cannot get used to commas in the game. Whether it’s my gold, or damage meters…it’s just weird to see.

I really love the flavour Glyphs. It just feels to me like that’s how they should have been in the first place. I also like the idea of learning abilities from them (Corpse Explosion!!!). As I haven’t been on as much as I’d like, I don’t have a full grasp on them, nor have I managed to make as much gold off them as I wanted to (still do well enough just the same).

AoE looting is wonderful. I say that truthfully, but still manage to completely forget its very existence more than half the time. The same can be said for no longer requiring range on my Hunters. Liouxpold keeps backing up to take his shots. Old habits die hard, don’tcha know.

Um, exactly how did Garrosh’s new assistant end up where he is? Seems kind of “So, I’m here now. Deal with it.”

I need to be updating the LBR schedule for this month. After the Alliance go get Illipants this weekend, the Horde will get Arthas next weekend. I had originally planned on getting a Deathwing run in before Mists but after a minor incident a few weeks ago, I think something current (plus still adjusting to all the class changes) would create the wrong environment and defeat the purpose of Laid Back Raids. I’m sure in no time I’ll be adding the Cataclysm ones in though. I can’t wait to see them for the first time!

Indeed, the only Cataclysm raids I’ve done are the two Deathwing ones in LFR. It wasn’t intentional, it just worked out that way. Plus, I know for a fact if I wasn’t running LBRs each week, I would’ve been able to go with Myth on a few. Sad thing is how many Transmog outfits I could make even better if I did go.

Speaking of Transmog, you’d think I would be burned out after the games wrapped up. to some extent this is true. But, having said that, I have something in mind. No, no more contests for a while. This is just an idea I had that won’t involve too much work. I think I’ll start it next week or the week after.

WordPress added a “random header” feature that allows for your header to change. I don’t know when, but this makes me happy. I like being able to have a non-stagnant header and this will allow me to feature more members of Team Amateur more prominently.

So with the new patch this week, there was some difficulty expected as a Linux user. That Blizzard still fails to openly support the system doesn’t help any either, but those of us who choose to use it anyway also understand that. We’re on our own, and we do alright. So it took me until Wednesday to sort out the inability to even download the patch, but once I did that it was smooth sailing.

For a day.

Since Thursday night I’ve gotten to the point where I can select a character and “enter world” but the load screen gets as far as about 95% and then the music fades like it does when you enter the world….except I’m not entering. It just stays at that 95%. I’ve been on the forums and tried every trick under the sun that I can think of or read about. Alas, none of it has worked. I am left with one alternative and just hope it solves whatever the conflict is…

edit:My inability to even install WoW now is doing nothing to improve my already “frustrated by a number of things” demeanor.

edit:The game is installed, and I can even login under a trial account but not a full one.